Mantua Mikado and Pacific Cabs

I recently got a project Mantua Mikado, to go with my project Mikado Pacifics. It's missing a cab, but even if it had one, that would be a problem: the stock cab is far too small for such a large loco.

Are there any aftermarket cabs that fit, or are there any 3D printed ones that fit?

I recently got a project Mantua Mikado, to go with my project Mikado Pacifics. It's missing a cab, but even if it had one, that would be a problem: the stock cab is far too small for such a large loco.

Are there any aftermarket cabs that fit, or are there any 3D printed ones that fit?

The PSC vestibule cab was originally from Kemtron, and was/is available in plastic or brass.

Here's the plastic version on an old John English Pacific (currently torn down for a complete cosmetic rebuild)...

...and the brass version, this time on a much-modified brass USRA 2-10-2...

The brass is cast, rather than simple sheet material, so I assembled it using a plumber's propane torch: pre-tinned all areas to be joined, assembled the cab, binding the pieces tightly together with soft steel wire, then used the torch to heat the assembly into one piece.Here it is painted...

If you want an open-style cab, you could use the one from Bachmann's 2-8-0, as I did with this IHC Mogul...

...this brass Mogul....

....and on a couple of modernised Bachmann Ten Wheelers...

Bachmann offers the boiler/cab assembly as a separate part, which includes the added-on boiler detail (bell, whistle, piping, handrails, etc.) and the weight which fits into the cab roof.

I recently got a project Mantua Mikado, to go with my project Mikado Pacifics. It's missing a cab, but even if it had one, that would be a problem: the stock cab is far too small for such a large loco.

Are there any aftermarket cabs that fit, or are there any 3D printed ones that fit?

I'm not sure I fully agree with your basic premise. The Mantua Pacific is at least largely a B&O prototype and photos of the various later series of B&O non-streamlined Pacifics show a fairly compact cab, perhaps still reflecting vestiges of some design influences from the control of the B&O by the Pennsylvania RR.

The Mantua Mikado's "prototype" has been debated ever since the kit was first released. The very straight boiler, with its peculiar "D" shape, in particular has led to all sorts of speculation that Mantua perhaps used the running gear of one prototype and the boiler somewhat borrowed from perhaps a Wabash locomotive such as their big Hudsons. The tender (and as you note, the cab casting) was carried over from the Pacific, as did some other parts.

But even so there were railroads that built or ordered steam of the Mikado and Pacific size with fairly compact cabs about the size of the Mantua casting (which was metal when those kits were first released by the way), generally following a railroad's own standards for such things. If your favored prototype had 'em bigger of course go for it. Don't ignore the possibilities of "basket case" steam (plastic or die cast) at swap meets - they can be as cheap as purchased parts. I once bought two AHM NYC Hudson boiler castings for $5 at a swap meet for example. (I no longer recall why - maybe the sheer cheapness!). And the old HobbyLine non-powered NKP Berkshire kits are still seen, sometimes very cheaply, at swap meets.

I'm not sure I fully agree with your basic premise. The Mantua Pacific is at least largely a B&O prototype and photos of the various later series of B&O non-streamlined Pacifics show a fairly compact cab, perhaps still reflecting vestiges of some design influences from the control of the B&O by the Pennsylvania RR.

Mantua used the same cab on many kits, from switchers on up. To my eye, it looks like a USRA switcher cab if anything, but I've been Googling and I'm far from the first to think it's incorrect:

Example - the well known Mantua Pacific follows the proportions and major details of the B&O P7 class at the end of its life - fully modernized - but the cab is generic, not even close.

The Mantua Mikado is nearly dead on for the DT&I 800 class, a rare and little known prototype. But again the cab is not even close.